Route
World Heritage Cities

This route unites the three cities that concentrate the largest number of Vandelvira's works within extensive monumental complexes, which have deserved the qualification of "World Heritage Cities" by UNESCO in 2005 for two of them, Baeza and Úbeda , with the anticipation of extending the cathedral of Jaén.

Jaén

The undisputed landmark is the Cathedral, remodeled from 1550 on an earlier Gothic model and headed by Andrés de Vandelvira from the beginning until his death in 1575. Recognized example of harmony and model for American cathedrals.

In a tour of the old town, following the axis of Calle Maestra, which starts from the Cathedral Square (Santa María), the visitor must visit the church of San Bartolomé, a Gothic temple with Mudejar coffered ceiling from the 16th century and original ceramic baptismal font from the 15th century; Mannerist altarpiece by Sebastián de Solís and Baroque doorway. Vandelvira's intervention is documented in a tower that has now disappeared.

The Fuente de los Caños, next to the previous church, shows an early example of the use of caryatids and other figures of the Italian classicist taste of the mid-16th century, learned directly in Rome by its author, Francisco del Castillo “El Mozo”.


In its vicinity, the Convent of Santa Clara, offers its beautiful Renaissance compass and inside an elegant cloister, equally classic of the aforementioned Castle "El Mozo". The church, from the late Gothic period, with Mudejar coffered ceiling, wall paintings and an old carving of the "Bamboo Christ" (first quarter of the 16th century).


Advancing along this axis of Calle Maestra, to the left stands the church of San Juan, a renovated medieval temple, one of the oldest in the city and in whose tower was the original “Clock” of Jaén. On the right in C / San Andrés, the homonymous temple, also of medieval Mudejar design with an excellent chapel at the foot, foundation of the apostolic protonotary in Rome, Gutierre Doncel, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, where the Mudejar and the Renaissance are combined. Splendid grille of Maestro Bartolomé; Mudejar Sagrario door and baroque altarpiece.

Further on, the Palace of the Count of Villardompardo, a late Renaissance work with a renovated façade, houses some old restored Arab Baths in the underground, and the modern installation of the Museum of Popular Art and Customs and the unique Museum of Naive Painting.

Next to these Baths, which belonged to the 11th century Islamic palace, now excavated, is the Santo Domingo Convent, seat of the old General Study founded by the Dominican Order in the 13th century, whose church is from the late 16th century, built by Vandelvira's faithful collaborator, Alonso Barba, and an elegant 17th century cloister.

Close to it was the parochial temple of San Miguel, today wrapped in modern dwellings, but whose cover, a trace of Vandelvira, can be seen in the Provincial Museum.

Finally, the church of La Magdalena closes this axis in front of the spring of the same name that fed most of the city in the past, both pieces linked by the legend of the dragon or "lizard" that guarded its waters. This church, which preserves part of its old sahn or mosque courtyard, of late Gothic style, also preserves the memory of Vandelvira in documented interventions in its tower and in a tribune, which today does not exist. To highlight the superb sculptural group of the Crucifixion, an early work of Renaissance sculpture in Spain, attributed to the Italian Jacopo Florentino and Jerónimo Quijano. Also in its vicinity have appeared remains of the Roman city.


Behind the church, the old Convent and Hospital of San Juan de Dios, restored and enabled as the headquarters of the current Institute of Giennenses Studies, offers an interesting 18th century cloister and remains of a Gothic chapel.

Outside what were the walls of the historic center, the Arrabal de San Ildefonso, marks the expansion of the city from the Late Middle Ages and Modern times. The parochial church of San Ildefonso, is the indisputable landmark of the same; Late Gothic temple with a beautiful Renaissance façade from 1556 in which Vandelvira and Castillo “el Mozo” intervene, which also works in the tower, completed in the 17th century and with a splendid neoclassical facade by Ventura Rodríguez. Inside, the three large Baroque altarpieces by Duque Cornejo and the Chapel of the Virgin, of the same name (Virgen de la Capilla), the patron saint of the city, stand out.

On the very edge of the old Suburb, the Bernardas Convent, a foundation in the early seventeenth century by the auxiliary bishop of Toledo, Don Melchor de Soria, keeps in its church three magnificent altarpieces with paintings by the Italian Angelo Nardi.

At the gates of the convent and Puerta del Ángel, a 17th century city gate, lies the Parque de la Alameda.

From where you can see a splendid view of the Sierra Sur and the silhouette of the cathedral cut out on the humble hamlet that surrounds it.

Returning to the interior of the San Ildefonso neighborhood, the visitor will be able to enjoy a handful of bars and restaurants, where they can taste the most typical tapas and dishes of the gastronomy of Jaén.

Other essential landmarks of the city are the Provincial Museum, in Paseo de la Estación, in Jaén, built in the 20th century, and the Castillo de Santa Catalina, with the remains of the old medieval walled enclosure.

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Baeza

Primera sede episcopal de Jaén, floreciente centro desde época visigoda, su viejo núcleo intramuros medieval se vio desbordado por un espectacular crecimiento de arrabales que configuran la ciudad histórica que hoy conocemos y merecedora por su conjunto arquitectónico, renacentista en grandes líneas, del título de Patrimonio de la Humanidad, compartido con Úbeda. A destacar dentro del conjunto declarado el eje que desde la catedral llega hasta el antiguo Colegio de Santiago, de la Compañía de Jesús, en la que se engarzan los grandes edificios de tipo educativo que le dieron fama a la ciudad entre los siglos XVI y XVII: Universidad, Seminario y el citado Colegio, junto con el Palacio de Jabalquinto y la iglesia protogótica de Santa Cruz.

Hito señalado es su Catedral, reedificada a partir de otra anterior gótica, cuyos restos son visibles a los pies. También aquí será Vandelvira, al menos en dos fases, el responsable de su espacio interior, de tres naves, si bien resuelto de forma más sencilla que en Jaén. En su terminación intervinieron los arquitectos, Castillo “El Mozo”, Alonso Barba y Juan Bautista Villalpando, autor de la portada exterior a la Plaza de Santa María. Contiene cuatro magníficas capillas renacentistas, una trazada por Vandelvira, la de Los Arcedianos o de San Miguel; dos rejas de Maestro Bartolomé y un interesante Museo en su claustro gótico.

En el centro de dicha Plaza, la Fuente, exenta con forma de “serliana” y muy ornamentada es un raro ejemplar de su especie, fechada en 1554, y debida a Ginés Martínez.

Frente a ella, la imponente masa del antiguo Seminario de San Felipe Neri, fundación del siglo XVII, hoy sede de la Universidad de Andalucía, que enlaza a sus espaldas con el Palacio de Jabalquinto, levantado por la aristocrática familia de Benavides a fines del siglo XV, como atestigua su fachada gótica flamígera, pero con elementos renacentistas, que lucen plenamente en el patio interior, de muy finales del siglo XVI, pero uno de los más bellos y perfectos ejemplares que pueden verse en
Jaén.

Inmediato al palacio, la Universidad, fundación del clérigo Pedro de Córdoba en 1538, aunque el edificio es posterior, en las postrimerías del siglo, con una fachada muy original por sus licencias de lenguaje, en cierto modo paralelo a la enseñanza que se impartía, cuando gozó de mayor prestigio.

Este eje principal que desciende de la catedral o que asciende desde la calle Compañía, según se mire, cierra su perfil educativo con el Colegio de Santiago, de la Compañía de Jesús, obra inacabada en su fachada, que lleva el sello de la austera arquitectura del clasicismo de Herrera por mano de su discípulo Juan Bautista Villalpando. 

Plaza singular por el conjunto renacentista de sus piezas, aunque alguna se haya trasladado recientemente, es la Plaza del Pópulo, presidida por el edificio de las Escribanías, junto a la Puerta de Jaén; las Carnecerías, movidas hasta allí desde un callejón próximo, y la Fuente de los Leones, en medio, utilizando restos arqueológicos iberos del yacimiento de Cástulo.

Fuera de estas piezas señaladas un paseo por las intrincadas calles de esta Baeza medieval depara infinitas sorpresas en sus muchas casas con portadas y detalles de un Renacimiento singular, trufado de tradicionalismos, junto a importantes restos de iglesias “tardorománicas” y “protogóticas”, como San Pedro o Santa Cruz, esta última en el citado eje viario, frente a Jabalquinto.

En la Baeza de arrabal, pasada la pintoresca y alegre Plaza del Mercado, que separa ambos espacios históricos, el Convento de San Francisco, constituye la gran referencia de Vandelvira en la ciudad por la monumental Capilla Mayor, panteón de los Benavides-Valencia, Señores de Jabalquinto; la “mejor capilla que hay en España”, como decía con orgullo Alonso de Vandelvira de su padre, pronto sin embargo convertida en ruina.

Próximo a ella, el actual Ayuntamiento, antigua Casa de Corregimiento y Cárcel, puede atribuírsele también al maestro Vandelvira con peculiares variantes ornamentales, propias por su condición de arquitectura pública.

En el recorrido por estos barrios de amplias calles el visitante no debe dejar de ver la iglesia parroquial de El Salvador, templo gótico que ofrece el interés de un nuevo templo renacentista a medio construir a su lado y destinado a envolverlo; el Convento de las Carmelitas Descalzas, con un importante patrimonio mueble en su interior, y en la calle de San Andrés, la iglesia parroquial del mismo nombre en la que se combina gótico y renacimiento y que guarda restos de los bienes muebles de la desparecida iglesia de Santa María de Alcázar, y en otro extremo la iglesia del
convento de los Trinitarios
, barroca de planta oval al modo italiano.

La iglesia parroquial de San Pablo, en la calle de su nombre; el convento de La Magdalena o el de San Antonio y el de San Ignacio, en el Ejido, constituyen otros referentes dignos de mencionarse.

En el paseo por la ciudad el visitante puede reponer fuerzas degustando los finísimos pasteles de hojaldre, popularmente, “virolos”, o sus célebres “ochíos” con pimentón y la pastelería en general, sin olvidar la buena oferta de bares y restaurantes que tiene la ciudad, o cafés de la solera del Mercantil, junto a una excelente oferta hotelera de pequeños establecimientos en palacios y casas tradicionales, perfectamente rehabilitados.

La visita a Baeza debe complementarse con dos salidas a su entorno. Una en dirección a Jimena, hasta bajar al Guadalquivir donde se cruza por un soberbio puente, del que hoy sólo conserva sus extremos, conocido como Puente Mazuecos o Puente Nueva, pero del que se conserva el dibujo de su traza firmado por Andrés de Vandelvira, Francisco del Castillo “El Mozo” y Ginés Martínez de Aranda.

Hacia el oeste, el cercano pueblo de Begíjar, a 5 Km residencia de verano del obispo en la torre medieval que tiene y una interesante iglesia parroquial, de renacimiento tardío con un importante camarín barroco. A la misma distancia, pero en dirección noroeste, Ibros, es otra villa que ofrece unos célebres restos de muralla ciclópea, por sus grandes sillares, considerada ibera y un notable templo, también de finales del siglo XVI con capilla mayor barroca. 

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Úbeda

Strongly walled city, which conveys to a certain extent the military importance it had in the Middle Ages both from a strategic point of view, as well as from its own social structure, also experienced an economic boom through its commercial and artisanal activity which it joined in the sixteenth century an important political-representative and cultural relief as it was the cradle of great statesmen, such as Francisco de los Cobos and Juan Vázquez de Molina, Secretaries respectively of Carlos V and Felipe II, and of other distinguished members of this family, which with specific construction companies (palaces, churches or hospitals) gave Úbeda a unique Renaissance mark.

The declaration of a monumental complex has its nucleus in the Plaza del Salvador, presided over by the funerary temple of El Salvador, the pantheon of Francisco de los Cobos and María de Mendoza, his wife, designed by Diego de Siloé, following classic models of rotunda inspired by the Pantheon of Rome connected to a nave, something already experienced in the cathedral of Granada. Andrés de Vandelvira, who was master executor, contributed from his harvest the layout of the sacristy, with the original portal open at an angle, and the two side panels.

Two palaces aligned on the north side of the square make up the space next to another, on the opposite side, recently rescued by archeology, that of the Orozco. The first two belonged, the one closest to the Chapel of El Salvador, to the clergyman, Hernando Ortega, known as Dean Ortega, for holding that position in the Cathedral of Malaga, Cobos's henchman, now a National Tourism Parador . The other, the so-called "Palacio de las Cadenas", was commissioned by Juan Vázquez de Molina (current City Hall). Both buildings are the work of Andrés de Vandelvira and represent two versions of the classic theme of the Roman house, but with original interpretations by the author.

In front of the Vázquez de Molina palace, the medieval Collegiate Church of Santa María de los Reales Alcázares, the highest-ranking church in the city, built between the 13th and 17th centuries, although most of its structural factory of three naves and cloister, it can be dated to the end of the 15th century, in a Gothic-Mudejar style. Only the exterior facades respond to the early seventeenth century, then reformed in the nineteenth century. Its chapels are noteworthy in its interior for its Renaissance movable art, in particular the series of bars by Maestro Bartolomé.

On the southern side of the square the nucleus of the old Alcazar rises slightly, today very uninhabited, but where you can see very interesting houses of popular tradition with curious elements of Hebraic sign on their facades, as if corresponding to what was the old Jewish quarter.

Behind the Chapel of El Salvador, the Hospital de Honrados Viejos, is part of the healthcare improvements that Cobos conceived for the city, in this case on a hospital foundation that has already existed since the end of the 14th century, also with plans for expansion and reform of Vandelvira, and that connects almost with the unfinished Palace of Francisco de los Cobos, in the street that bears his name, started with traces of the royal architect, Luis de Vega.

Continuing the tour to the north of the Plaza del Salvador, another important square centers the heart of the Gothic Úbeda: Plaza de San Pablo or del Mercado, articulated around the parish church of San Pablo, a 14th and 15th century Gothic temple with a façade, that of "the carpenters", older, from the thirteenth century, at the foot, and the primitive Town Hall, which shows a beautiful Renaissance loggia.

In the surroundings of this square is the Carmelite convent of San Miguel, with the Oratory of San Juan de la Cruz, where the saint died in 1591, although it is a work of the 18th century, rebuilt where his cell was. Now it houses a Museum with objects and memories of the saint. Not far from this convent, on Montiel street, is the Carmelo female convent with the title of La Concepción, founded at the end of the 16th century and built throughout the 17th century. It also has a museum with important sumptuary works. The Archaeological Museum is also nearby, installed in a Mudejar house from the 15th century, and some palatial houses from the 16th and 17th centuries, among a maze of medieval streets.

Towards the western sector of the intramural nucleus and behind the Plaza de San Pablo, Calle Real is the main artery that connects the Plaza de El Salvador with the Puerta de Toledo. In it is located the Palacio de Vela de Cobos, the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, already from his last years, internally renovated, but with an elegant and original facade. Meters further up the Palace of the Count of Guadiana, of turriform type, dated at the beginning of the XVII, sums up well the Vandelvirian influences.

Behind it, the parish church of San Pedro, of medieval origin with late Renaissance façades, and the Convent of Santa Clara, a Franciscan foundation from the 13th century, where Queen Isabel la Católica stayed one day, and next to it, another palace , trace of Vandelvira, that of the Marqués de la Rambla.

Interesting pieces of this sector, in its southern part, are the Casa de las Torres, an early Renaissance work, ordered to be built by the knight Don Andrés Dávalos, and near it the churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Domingo.

Outside the walled enclosure, in what were the outskirts of the city, the parochial churches of San Nicolás and San Isidoro stand out, both of Gothic origin but with important Renaissance elements directly or indirectly related to Vandelvira. The first of them owes to Vandelvira the design of its main portal, an original baptism chapel, a work of his maturity, and perhaps one of his first interventions in Úbeda: the Deán Ortega chapel, and with a clear Vandelvirian influence its Sacristy. In San Isidoro, an extensive reform begun shortly after Vandelvira's death by his collaborator, Alonso Barba, closely following the scheme of the Jaén cathedral, but interrupted at the height of the transept, continued in a sober way with a single nave In XVII century.

Equally noteworthy is the church and convent of La Trinidad, strategically located opposite the Puerta de Toledo and the very interesting Torre del Reloj, whose graceful upper body is designed by Vandelvira (1561). The convent is a medieval foundation, which has a spacious and elegant Renaissance cloister and a Baroque church from the 18th century.

But the undisputed part of the suburbs is the Hospital de Santiago, founded by the bishop of Jaén, Diego de los Cobos, in 1560, and the most breathtaking work of A. de Vandelvira in full maturity, where his architecture becomes more abstract , detached from superfluous ornamentation. To highlight within it, the staircase, the central patio and the chapel-pantheon.

Úbeda has a rich artisan tradition, mainly ceramics and plaiting materials. Also given its long commercial tradition, the visitor will find a good offer of all these objects in numerous shops on his walks around the city. However, a visit to the potters' neighborhood, the old parish or collation of San Millán, is highly recommended, structured by Valencia Street, which we arrive at by leaving through the historic Puerta del Local. There you can visit the pottery of Titos or the Hermanos Alameda, of recognized prestige.

As in Baeza, Úbeda offers a magnificent series of hotel establishments, located in old palaces.

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